Despite economic instability, the Honda Civic remains the most popular car among Quebecers on the Autohebdo.net website.

The love affair between Quebec and the Honda Civic will not end any time soon, according to the results of Autohebdo.net’s study of the most sought-after and best-selling vehicles in Canada in 2023. No fewer than eleven million Canadians visit the Autohebdo.net website every year.

The five most sought-after vehicles in Quebec in 2023 are the same as in 2022: the Honda Civic, the Porsche 911, the Toyota Rav4, the BMW 3 Series and the Ford F-150. The only difference is that the Rav4 has overtaken the 3 Series to become Quebec’s 3rd most sought-after vehicle on the platform.

The top 10 most sought-after vehicles in Quebec had the good fortune to welcome a newcomer this year: the Jeep Wrangler (9th place). It was the Mazda3 that had to give up its position to Chrysler’s iconic SUV. Nationwide, Mazda3 sales have fallen from almost 11,804 in 2021 to 8,044 in 2022.

Regarding these results, Sandra Lemaitre, Director Public Relations & Corporate Affaires of Mazda Canada, explains: “This year [2023] through November, we have reported 10,097 Mazda3s sold, so sales are bouncing back from a low point last year as our inventory situation has improved. Certainly, sales of Mazda3 have decreased over recent years, but looking at the compact car segment, sales have decreased for most, if not all, entries over the past few years, with more consumers choosing to purchase SUVs over compact cars. Our strategy has been to meet this consumer demand and transition our brand to crossover vehicles, which we have done very successfully. Our SUV sales have increased substantially and our models like the CX-5, CX-50, and the all-new CX-90 have been very well received by consumers.”

It’s also important to remember that the most sought-after vehicles are not the same as the best-selling vehicles. In a context of budgetary austerity, buyers are initially attracted by passion at the start of the purchasing process, but they quickly come back to reality.

Pickup trucks reign supreme in Canada

Across Canada, 2023 was the year of the van. Following the stock-outs of 2022 and the increase in dealer inventories (+51%), Canadians have returned in force to vans and for the first time since 2019, two of them appear on the list of the 10 most sought-after vehicles in the country.

In fact, the Ford F-150 took 1st place in all the other Canadian provinces. It is also the most sought-after vehicle in the country for the 9th year running.

SUVs are still the most popular category of vehicle purchased on AutoHebdo.net. As a matter of fact, half of the best-selling vehicles are SUVs.

The popularity of saloons and compact cars continues to decline in Canada. After the record rise in petrol prices in 2022, many drivers returned to large vehicles in 2023.

In the Maritimes, the Toyota Corolla and Chevrolet Camaro gave up their places in the top 10 to the Dodge Ram 1500 (#8) and Toyota Tundra (#9). As a result, provinces that typically prefer compact cars are also beginning to abandon this class of vehicle.

Finally, the statistics provided by Auto-Hebdo suggest that Canadians have little interest in electric vehicles. In fact, only 3% of the vehicles searched for on their platform were EVs.

What’s more, the number of buyers considering an EV as their next vehicle fell by 12% between 2022 and 2023 (from 68% to 56%).

Despite a much more sustained supply, EVs still have some way to go before they dethrone SUVs and vans in Canada.